COEUR d’ALENE — When Orville Benjamin first attended the school at 920 W. LaCrosse Avenue, it was known as Park Elementary School. It was a small wooden school that had been built in the very early 1900s.

“It was a white building, I know that,” the 102-year-old said on Saturday morning. “I remember Bertha Myer, and some of the kids I know.”

Bertha Myer was the name of Benjamin’s sixth-grade teacher. Her name was signed at the bottom of his Park School report card, along with the words, “Promoted to 7th grade.” Benjamin and his daughter Vicki Johnson shared the report card with those who attended Winton Elementary School’s All Years Class Reunion.

Benjamin, of Coeur d’Alene, attended Park/Winton from 1923 through 1925. He was one of the first students to attend the school when it was rebuilt and officially opened its doors as Winton Elementary on Sept. 8, 1925.

The iconic brick building is the oldest active school in the area and will be torn down at the end of June. It will be replaced by a new school in 2015, scheduled to open 90 years to the day when Winton welcomed its first wave of students.

“It’s an idea,” Benjamin said. “It’s an old school. Just about as old as I am.”

Benjamin sat near the school’s front entrance during the reunion, which attracted well more than 100 current and former students, teachers and faculty members from all eras. The reunion was also an open house, where anyone could wander through the school’s old halls, peek through the wavy glass of its windows and enjoy its history one last time.

Several old friends and new stopped by to say hello to Benjamin, who had 12 brothers and sisters who also grew up and went to school at Winton and Coeur d’Alene schools.

Vic Eachon, 87, of Coeur d’Alene, was one of the many Winton students who knew the Benjamin family. He attended Winton from 1931 to 1936 and visited with Benjamin for a bit.

“I remember Ms. (Jean) Vesser,” Eachon said. “That she was tall and wore the same dress every day for a month.”

Eachon said he remembered being sent to a separate room and bending over a desk to receive a spanking for acting out.

“And if my folks found out, I’d get another when I got home,” he said. “Nowadays if you did that, they’d put you in jail.”

Eachon and his brother Bob, 90, who now lives in Oregon, walked to school all year through, even in the winters, and spent much of their summers as youngsters working.

“We worked,” he said. “We had to pile wood. There was nothing but mills around here. Old Charlie Humphrey would bring a whole big truckload of mill ends and stuff and dump them and off you go, to pile all that. That’s all we had for heat.”

Musician and writer Gary Edwards, 73, of Coeur d’Alene, attended Winton from 1947 to 1951. He said he will miss the old building, but he understands the need for a new school.

“It brings back a lot of memories. There’s a lot of nostalgia here, but that’s progress,” he said. “After 89 years they’re ready for a new building, so I’m happy to see the progress, but sad to see the old building go.”

Edwards vividly recalls his Winton years, such as making friends with a 16-year-old Latvian refugee.

“He couldn’t speak English so they put him in the first grade for a while,” he said. “I felt sorry for him because he didn’t have any friends, so I’d go visit him and hang out with him, but then after a few months he went away and I never saw him again.”

Edwards recently published a book with an entire chapter dedicated to his memories of Winton. He credits the school with his love of music.

“It all started right here because they taught us how to play in the rhythm band and they had music lessons, and every teacher used to know how to play the piano,” he said. “So we learned the names of the notes and how to count in the early years.”

Reunion organizer and physical education/music teacher Nancy Mueller said it was difficult for the staff when the decision was made to tear down the old school because several of their children attended Winton and the community has many generational ties to it. Mueller has taught there since 1994.

“It was really hard to make the final decision to tear it down, but the cost of redoing just the old portion of the building is astronomical, so it just was better to start over.”

Former students had the opportunity to write memories and contribute photos and report cards to the time capsule which will be opened every 10 years or so for students of the new Winton to have the opportunity to appreciate the school’s history.

“I’ve been here since kindergarten so it’s kind of sad to see it go,” said fifth-grader Sarah Pero, 11, of Coeur d’Alene. “This place is just really awesome. I know this school inside and out and I just love it here.”